Ninja Doorman
by Matalvis
Summary: I love Self Inserts. Me putting up one was going to happen at some point. An anime fan dies, yes I know it has been done before, and wakes up with a new start in another world. Only this world is filled with dangers. Dangers so powerful he has to struggle to keep up in order to survive.
1. Chapter 1

**Ninja Doorman**

**Chapter 1**

Dying hurts. Not only that, it could also happen so fast. You just never know when your world is going to start crumbling around you.

In my case it was the apartment building I lived in crumbling around me. I remembered feeling the heat of the flames all around. Yelling was heard along with sirens outside. I had already made it out, but when the panicking woman next to me screamed her son was still inside I just acted.

I knew the lady and her family. They lived a few doors down from me. At times I would even babysit for them.

So I managed to get back up to the fourth floor, narrowly avoiding flames and debris on the way. I held the front of my shirt over my mouth as my squinting eyes stung from the smoke around me.

The next few moments just swam by in a haze. I was just barely able to recall that I had broken the door down with my shoulder.

"Conner!" I yelled as my other hand shielded my eyes from a sudden blast of heat.

"Pete!" a small voice screamed from the other side of the apartment.

I spun around and ran through a small hallway to the boy's room. When I got there I saw that part of an apartment above me had crashed down from the ceiling. The flames from a chunk of debris covered half of Conner's door.

"Pete!" the boy screamed again.

Squinting really hard, I could almost make out the figure of the six year old huddled up in a corner on the side of his bed.

"It's going to be alright!" I yelled over the roaring flames. "Stay right there!"

My hands went through my hair as I looked around my surroundings. The fire in the doorway took up a few feet of space. And what was left of the debris, looks like part of a cabinet, made it imposable to jump over.

I was big, sure, but even if I could jump over it I would get roasted. And there was no way I could make a return trip with the kid.

"I'll be right back!" was what I said before turning around and running back into the burning living room.

I needed to do something. Maybe place something over the fire so I could climb over.

My eyes stopped on the couch. When I saw a folded comforter on the back I got an idea. I grabbed the large blanket, only to drop it when I realized a corner was on fire. I tried again and shook the large blanket and ran into the kitchen. When I saw the sink I bundled up the comforter and threw it in.

Thankfully the pipes were still working. With not a lot of time, I was only able to make the blanket a bit damp before I ran back.

The fire had grown in my absence, and I could see Conner crying where I last saw him. I threw the large blanket over the fire and instantly saw some steam, but the flames just looked like they were delayed.

When I started climbing my hands burned and I could feel the comforter quickly drying out.

"Conner! Come on!" I shouted as I held my hands out from on top of the debris.

He was hesitant, but after I repeated myself he ran over. I grabbed his hands and pulled him up. With the boy in my arms I jumped off the burning blanket and ran as fast as I could after telling him to close his eyes.

I managed to get out of the apartment just as a crunch was heard. Turning down the hall, I saw that the floor had gave out and collapsed.

"Shit!" as soon as my curse left my mouth I heard crunching above me.

I didn't even bother to look up. My feet just started running by themselves. By the way it sounded; everything above me was coming down.

Suddenly something fell in front of me and I was unable to jump over it. I tripped, the momentum sending Conner through the air and me into the carpet.

Before I could respond a bunch of wood fell on my legs.

This stuff was on fire to. I could say I didn't scream, but I don't like to lie. My legs were burning and stuff was falling all around me.

In seconds I was under a pile of burning debris. The added fire on my body made my screaming go even louder. Tears ran down my face.

My vision stung from both the smoke and dust. So I kept them closed.

"I see a kid!" a voice yelled, cutting through my screams.

My eyes snapped open to see four firemen running down the hall. The first one to Conner placed a mask on him as he picked him up.

Conner was a mess. He was crying his lungs out and covered in soot from the fall.

"Help Pete!" Conner screamed at the top of his little lungs when he realized he was being carried away.

My screaming never stopped. Kind of hard to not scream when you are being burned alive.

The other three ran over to me with their extinguishers, and were about to put out the flames until another section of the ceiling collapsed in front of them.

"It's unstable!" yelled one of them.

"I'm sorry." A fireman said to me remorsefully.

My voice had cracked by this point. So I couldn't say anything that could have been heard from the distance and over the roaring flames.

What was there to say? The building is coming down. I'm pinned.

I just rested my head on the carpet.

I could tell they were running due to Conner's screams and the heavy footsteps.

It was around there that it all hit me.

I was going to die.

This was not really a way I wanted to go. I always thought I would die in an accident. Something interesting would have been nice. Like a toilet seat fell from a plane and hit me like a meteor.

Now that would get people's attention, like I went out with a last joke or something.

But I guess this will have to do.

My body was numb from the pain by this point. I accepted the numbness. It was better than the fire.

And my vision went dark… and then bright again.

I was suddenly freezing. What happened to the fire? Why is everything so bright?!

I refused to open my eyes. You would think my attitude would have spun around now that I was out of the frying pan.

Wrong.

I wailed like a banshee at the top of my lungs. I didn't hear my screams. My voice box was most likely shredded, but I could hear a baby.

My body felt sluggish, but I still suddenly became aware of something big touching me.

Was that I hand?

…

That is a Huge Hand!

I suddenly heard gibberish around me as I was moved around. Suddenly I was hung upside down by my legs as the voices around me started to go even louder.

One was a man's voice. He sounded calm and calculative to me. The other sounded like a woman whose voice grew more angry and panicked as she spoke.

And with one final word the woman went quit.

Just like that.

I don't know who that lady was, but the way she just suddenly stopped talking deeply disturbed me.

And the crying baby got even louder and it was when I took a deep breath that I realized something.

That was me.

I am a baby.

That explained everything. My fingers felt pudgy, I couldn't move anything. And most of all I felt small.

You know what I did when I realized this?

I screamed my little head off.

I felt a pinch in my arm that made me try to move away.

Even if I was a baby, didn't that mean the guy holding me was a doctor? He was not holding me delicately at all. And on top of that I think he just jabbed a needle in me.

Someone report his ass!

Whatever he put in me was working fast. I could feel my new body going numb again, along with my insides warming up. My heartbeat was beating rapidly in my ears and was now starting to slow down.

Before I blacked out I couldn't help but feel like the situation was wrong. So wrong in so many ways.

If I was reincarnated, why the hell do I still remember my past life? Shouldn't I be a blank slate? An empty canvas? A new start?

And that was not all. Where I was… I don't know. It just didn't feel right.

I was placed on something both soft and rough while something closed above me.

Shouldn't I be with my mo… I mean, my new mother?

I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my chest and weakly screamed with my small lungs. The smell of something burning reached my nose, making it hard to breath. This was not right! I should not be here!

The pain went down a little, but it still burns.

Fear, anger, pain, shock. All of these feelings and emotions were going through me as my eyes slowly closed.

The next time I cracked my eyes open it was because I was cold. I was wet, but not in a diaper way.

For some reason I was soaked. I inhaled so I could whine and scream, and was just able to detect new smells.

This body was unfamiliar with such things. The newborn part of me was panicking and crying, while the adult side of me identified what I had smelled.

Dirt, water, salt.

I didn't know why I smelled salt, but I quickly found out I was outside and in the rain.

I was shocked again when my noise triggered something to happen. That was when I realized I was being held. But this time whoever it is holding me was being gentle. My sounds made the arms cradling me hold on tightly.

Everything was so blurry. The only thing I could really make out was a dark purplish color looking down at me.

When the person talked I found out I was being held by a young girl. Her voice sounded shaky and pained, almost broken, but I could tell she was trying to sooth me. She held me close to her as she continued to talk. It was only when I found out the stuttering words rhymed that I realized she was actually singing to me.

Or at least she was trying to. Her words were so quiet and kept shaking. It was like it hurt her to talk.

When she pulled me close, I actually started to feel warm. My crying died down a little as my head nestled something soft.

For the first time since my reincarnation neither part of me, adult or infant, felt afraid.

I felt like nothing could get me, like I was under some kind of divine protection.

In the arms of this person… this stranger, I actually felt safe.

I was so comfortable I fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Ninja Doorman

Chapter 2

I can sit here and tell you what happened since I was rescued, but to be honest I can't remember much. Nothing more than blurry shapes and mumbled noises I could not even begin to understand.

It was hard to remember what was going on around me back then. It was like everything was put in a blender and thrown in my face and I was only able to pick up bits and pieces.

And my new body was not really that responsive. It was really frustrating.

So my time as an infant was spent eating, pooping, and then sleeping.

I can only vaguely recall the times I was alone in my crib. This time stuck out because something weird had happened.

I could feel something around me. It was like air, but at the same time it felt alive. I waved my pudgy hands through it and felt how it slipped between my fingers.

The feeling was hard to explain. Was this a new futuristic baby toy? Maybe it was some kind of fog machine, or something that reacted to my movements.

But as time went by I started to realize this stuff was everywhere. No matter where I went I could feel it all around me.

Imagine how shocked I was when I found out this stuff was actually coming out of my body.

Not like I could ask what was wrong with me, so I was forced to adapt to the weird sensations I felt twenty-four hours a day. Over time I noticed it less and less until it was natural to me.

My eyes started working right by that time. Everything looked so big. I saw little kids running around, playing some kind of tag. A lady had just placed me in a crib with another baby who was chewing on a rubber ring.

He must have been teething.

As time went by I started to notice some strange things. Things like the strange cloths people wore, all the trees I could see through my window. The biggest thing was that I finally recognized what language everyone was speaking.

After a while I had found out my new name was Hajime. That was my biggest clue.

Everyone was speaking Japanese!

Am I Japanese now?

In my past life I was a Caucasian guy with some Italian blood in me. So I was a little shocked the first time I saw myself in a mirror while a lady was preparing my bath.

Turns out my skin is a little tan compared to those around me, and my hair was some dark color that ended up being dirt brown as I got older. And my eyes are a light bronze color. Other than that, my facial features looked Japanese.

But my eyes zoomed in on something strange in the mirror.

There is some kind of tattoo burned onto the left side of my chest.

I was reminded of that hot pain I felt on the day of my birth.

It wasn't a tattoo. It was a brand.

The boxy shape ended up being 四 the kanji for 4. One of the corners went over my caller bone and almost touched my throat.

That number haunted me. Why the number 4? Fourth of what?! I just had to shut out those thoughts. They made me feel uneasy.

The next shock of my life had to be the biggest so far. I got too big for the crib I was in and was moved to another room with a bigger one.

This room was on the other side of the orphanage and had a window. And in the time it took the person holding me to put me in the crib, my eyes were as wide as they could get.

Instead of the trees I was used to, I saw buildings off in the distance. No big ones, but short ones clustered together with a slightly bigger building here and there. Some were oddly shaped and I could see bright colors.

But that was not what my little eyes were so transfixed on. This town, city, whatever, had a mountain towering over it. And on this mountain were four faces.

No. Not Mount Rushmore.

I was in Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves.

So do you want to know what I did when I realized I was in an anime?

I wailed like there was no tomorrow.

So… yeah. I am in an anime. Not much one can really say about that, other than a few profanities.

It took me a long time to come to terms with this. Not like I could do anything about it.

As I got bigger I moved on to an actual bed. I got along with some of the other kids, but not in a friendly way. More like we were all here at the same time, and that was it.

This was mostly because I isolated myself. I never played with others, mostly because the screaming of kids annoyed me, and I would always move away from the groups.

This eventually started up some whispered conversations from the other kids and our adult caretakers. At one point I started to understand some of the things said around me. So I started talking a little. Nothing big, but I became quit the little smartass.

You know that little kid you were trying to talk to, and no matter what you said the little brat would respond with why?

That was me.

I know I was a brat, but if you asked me the adults deserved it. They never let us have sugar, and they send us to bed way too early. Now that I think about it, most of the food we ate tasted really bland to me.

But those were not the only reasons. How did you think Naruto ended up on the street before the third Hokage got him that apartment? I can't really remember how Naruto ended up alone, but I'm betting these people kicked him out.

I didn't really know what I was supposed to do. Since the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze is alive, that means Naruto has not been born yet. So I had some time.

Turns out I did not have that much.

I was almost two when I listened in on two of the adults talking to each other, just some gossip. I didn't care much for it, with me having such a small vocabulary at the time. But as soon as they mentioned the name Kushina I stopped drawing and tilted my head.

Now that my body was a little more responsive, I had to be careful not to give away how smart I really was. I didn't want to end up being a prodigy, and by extension ending up in ROOT.

Back to the gossip.

It was hard for me to understand, but I picked up a comment about how much the woman's belly was growing.

I would have smiled if I did not fully comprehend what that meant. Soon, Naruto will be born, and the Nine Tails would be released.

Naruto would lose his parents before he could even get a chance to remember them.

I felt sorry for the blond boy. And there was nothing I could do. No one would believe an almost two year old kid. And that goes for the Uchiha Massacre. And even if they did, I would most likely end up interrogated.

Damn Danzo! Damn Obito!

Actually I can't fully blame Obito. Before he became Tobi he was a nice guy. He sacrificed himself for his friends, only to end up being molded into a monster by Madara.

The point was I can't do anything. I am worthless! What was the point of me being here in this time? Why make me witness these events?

I felt pathetic.

There was nothing I could do.

A month later I turned two. Birthdays at the orphanage were not really that big of events. Most of the adults just performed their tasks in a way that almost screamed they wanted to be anywhere else but here.

They were not paid to care much.

The next month I suddenly felt a fiery energy in the night. I found out that the strange energy I have been feeling was actually chakra.

I could mess around with the chakra with my hands and found out that I could feel chakra from other things as well. And over time I found out everyone has their own feel to their chakra. For example, mine felt like I had dipped my hands in a mixed pile of saw dust and dirt.

I guess I was aware of this because chakra does not exist on earth. That does not mean I am chakra sensitive though. I can't feel the chakra of someone across the room. I have to be in contact. Or touching something the person did.

So I can't sense where someone is, but I can identify things someone has touched. For example I know which one of my caretakers made my breakfast.

I guess that makes me some kind of chakra bloodhound.

That does not explain what I was feeling right now in the middle of the night. There was no doubt what was going on. Sirens were going off, children were crying, people were screaming.

The Kyubi is loose.

The only reason I could think of for me being able to feel the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra is that the fox had so much of the stuff that it covered the whole area.

That was a scary thought. So much power in one entity… the feeling was overpowering. It was hard to breath. Felt like I was trying to breath underwater. My limbs felt like they turned into lead.

I was both terrified and in awe of this power.

I knew the beast had been sealed in Naruto when the chakra in the air started to thin out. But even though the danger had passed, I couldn't move, I could hardly breathe.

I felt so small.

In this world I could be killed at any time. There was nothing I could have done if the Nine-Tailed fox just stepped on the orphanage.

This was like a wakeup call for me. The Fourth Shinobi War was going to start in my lifetime, and if I turned out just being a civilian chances are I would die when Sunagakure and Orochimaru attacked.

Hell, I could die before that. I might run into Gaara before the exams and find out he was in a rotten mood.

Sand Coffin. Need I say more?

So that left me no choice. If I wanted to survive, I had to get stronger. And that meant becoming a ninja. Sure, I could train on my own, use what I know from the anime to boost my chakra and things like that, but eventually someone would notice there was a potential ninja just floating around the village.

That brings me back to ROOT. Don't want to be brainwashed and forced to be a member. I could end up as just one of those guys who vanish off of the street.

So that did not leave me a lot of options.

In order to avoid ROOT, I have to get myself registered and recognized as a shinobi. That was my only chance. Would ROOT target already publicly known shinobi?

Kabuto was picked up at a young age, now that I think about it.

So that meant I have to be even more careful then I originally thought.

I hate my life.


	3. Chapter 3

**To answer a question, I would have put more than OC on this story, but the site was being an ass, so… yeah.**

**Ninja Doorman**

**Chapter 3**

"Hajime. Go play with the others." Said Hisoka, one of the adults.

I paused when my name was called. "I don't want to play!"

I'm two now. And that meant I could talk a little more without giving myself away. Normally I would be annoyed with not having much of a vocabulary. But here it helped people believe I was young mentally. They still reacted strangely around me however.

I was weird to them.

"If you are not going to spend your playtime with the other kids then go upstairs and help clean the playroom."

Ew. There were two playrooms in the building, one on the first and second floor. Those who have had a younger sibling at one point should understand my hesitation.

Little kids are messy.

My grimace at the order made the woman narrow her eyes and point at the stairs. With not much choice my shoulders sagged as I walked away from the nursery and up the stairs.

We received quite a "few" orphans a few weeks ago. It was not that hard to guess where they had all come from. The Nine-Tailed Fox did not just kill shinobi in his rampage.

They did not want the kids to start panicking, so they told us there was a big accident.

These little brats, and I mean that in the nicest way possible, just ate it up. Hell, even most of the children of those who were killed believed it.

The ages of these kids ranged from two to seven if you don't add the babies. The nursery was packed at the moment. Not a single crib was empty, and some had to actually share.

It was a really sad sight to see.

Thankfully it looked like some of the kids had family members, and would be handed over to their next guardians once the paperwork was filled out. This had been going on for a while, and the orphanage had been visited quite a few times over the last few days. But I bet most of these orphans were going to end up staying with us.

They will never see their parents again.

When the Hokage made an appearance a few nights ago I snuck out of bed and watched from the doorway. And in case you wanted to know, this was not the fourth Hokage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the man who was taught by the First Hokage and sensei of the three legendary Sennin.

I could not believe he was here. This was the first person from the anime I saw in person. The similarities between him and what I remembered him looking like in the anime were shocking.

With him stood two men in black wearing masks, one a bird and the other a bull. ANBU.

They were standing behind the old man who was in a conversation with one of the caretakers. It was then I noticed the man was holding a bundle in his arms.

Of course I knew that had to be Naruto. Who else could it be?

When I took a step to get a better view I must have made a noise since everyone turned to the doorway. Sarutobi handed the baby over to the woman before turning and walking up to me.

I was frozen to the spot, and I didn't even know why. This man is the Third Hokage. The God of Shinobi. Not only did I remember how caring the man was from my past life, but ever since I started living in the orphanage I have been taught to treat whoever had that hat on their head with respect.

"Hello, little one." He greeted me with a warm smile on his face. "What is your name?" my eyes staring back at him were my response as I subconsciously inched my way behind the door-frame. I didn't mean to do it. I knew this man was definitely not someone I should be afraid of. It was just a basic impulse to hide if you had no idea what to do. Thankfully the old man did not seem offended by my lack of an answer. "There is no reason to be shy." He said to me with a smile that looked both warm and amused. "My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. What's yours?"

"Ha… Hajime." was my stuttered response.

"I'm sorry." The lady in the room inserted herself into the small conversation. "Hajime has never been known to interact with others often." She voiced with a small dismissive hand after she carefully adjusted the bundle in her arms.

One of my eyebrows shot up as I looked at her in annoyance. I really hated it when the adults either talked down to me or assumed I wouldn't catch their double meanings.

I'm challenged when it comes to Japanese vocabulary, not stupid.

"Hajime?" the old man asked with his face looking more amused. "That's a nice name."

"Thank you, Hokage-Sama!" I snapped out as I bowed. Maybe my bow was a little too low: but give me a break. This is like someone meeting the president randomly on the street while picking up dry-cleaning.

"There is no need to bow." He chuckled while holding my shoulders and making me stand straight. The contact made me able to feel his chakra. It felt… maybe like relaxing on a sunny day. That was the best way I could describe it. When I saw his face I noticed he was examining me. "How do you know I'm the Hokage?"

Again I froze.

'Crap.' A groaned in my head. The fourth Hokage died, so the elders would take a while figuring out who would fill the spot if the last Hokage didn't already pick. So I just said something I shouldn't.

My mind scrambled for a response. I can't just say I heard it somewhere, mostly because I don't know the proper words.

So in my mental state of panic I said the first thing to pop in my head.

"Hat…"

My hurried answer resulted with the man chuckling before smiling at me again. "It's not really subtle, is it?" he asked me rhetorically. At least I thought it was meant to be. "How about a surname?"

"I… don't have one." I voiced. I couldn't help it when my eyes drifted down to the floor.

"Oh?"

"Hajime has lived here his whole life, Hokage-sama." The caretaker in the room answered the man's unspoken question. I looked up and saw his features sadden I little. I got the look sometimes, when people were not talking about how strange I was. "I didn't work here back then, but I hear he was left here without a name. A few days later a letter came saying his name was Hajime."

The man patted my shoulders before letting go and standing to his full height.

"Would you like to meet someone?" the Third asked me. He was trying to change the subject, and I let him.

"Who?" I asked. I could already guess who this someone was, but I'm supposed to be a stupid two year old, remember?

"One moment." He said with a finger raised. He turned and collected the bundle from the woman. Hiruzen walked up to me again and kneeled down so I could see. The first thing I saw was some blond hair. That hair was connected to a small sleeping baby with three birthmarks on both cheeks that closely resembled whiskers. "This is Uzumaki Naruto."

My eyes were wide again. This infant would become the savior of the village. He was so small.

Before me is the main character of the show, the jailer of the Kyubi. It was hard to believe something as big as the Nine-Tails was in something so… tiny.

I raised my hand slowly and paused half way. For some reason I was compelled. My curiosity was getting the better of me.

The back of my hand rested on Naruto's forehead, and I instantly felt his chakra. Instead of a sensation I felt a sense of determination that was not from me. That was the first time chakra felt like an emotion.

"Hi…" I whispered to Naruto who seemed unfazed by my hand.

"Naruto is going to be staying here for a while until I clear a few things and can find him a nanny." Hiruzen explained with that warm smile on his face again. "Maybe when he gets older you two can be friends. What do you think of that?"

"Hai!" I almost yelled excitedly. Did he really have to ask? Not only would it be cool to be Naruto's friend (Maybe I could make him forget about the color orange while I'm at it…) but the chances I can survive in this world would skyrocket! This is like living next door to a doctor, or a police officer. "We are going to be friends!" the child part of me just had to say loudly.

A few seconds after I said that I suddenly froze as my eyes bulged in shock and fear.

It was like something was strangling me, not letting any air into my lungs. My eyes went to my hand on Naruto's forehead. I could see the sleeping baby scrunch up his brow in discomfort as my hand felt like it had needles dancing over the skin.

I felt fury, rage, anger, and wrath.

No single word could describe what I was feeling.

"This is good to hea…" Hiruzen stopped when he looked at me. His smile quickly went to a look of confusion, to worry, and then pure shock. "Hajime!" he called out as he took my hand off of Naruto.

I started falling back but never hit the ground. Hiruzen had scooped me up with his free arm in a quick motion. One of the Anbu took Naruto from the Hokage so the old man could gently lay me down on the floor.

My whole body felt like it was trying to rip itself apart, starting with my neck and lungs. I gasped and started to roll around but was stopped by a strong hand holding me still.

"Sparrow!" Hiruzen called out.

At the back of my head I was confused until I saw the Anbu with said birdlike animal as his mask.

The man's hands formed seals so quickly they might as well have been a blur. "Byakugan!"

So he's a Hyuga?

My right hand clawed at the wooden floor while the other grabbed the front of Hiruzen's robes. He was the closest, so my hand just had to grab it. I still couldn't breathe. It was like I was suffocating.

"Hokage-sama!" Bird yelled in surprise. "This isn't right!"

"What are you talking about?!" the old man yelled. "What is wrong with him?"

"His… his chakra system." The Anbu started. "His core is not where it should be! Instead there are six small ones throughout his whole body that send chakra to the sections they are connected to!"

"What?!" Hiruzen shouted as his hands pressed down on my chest in an attempt to help me breath.

I would have been shocked, but I was kind of in the middle of experiencing what it was like to be strangled.

"One in the center of his chest!" The Anbu started announcing the locations. "One at the base of his skull! One under both shoulder blades, and one above his pelvis on both sides of his waist!"

"How is this possible?" the Bull masked Anbu asked.

"I have no idea, but the cores are attacking his body by forcing too much chakra through his pathways! The core in his chest is constricting his lungs!" Bird yelled as he kneeled on the other side of me.

I bet my face was turning colors at this point. It was a miracle I didn't die yet.

"Can you block off the paths?" Hiruzen asked the Anbu who started to send blue chakra into his hands.

"I think so, but I have never seen anything like this before." He responded as I started to hear Naruto start crying. "Hold him down. I'll see what I can do."

My eyes closed as I started coughing. I started kicking as I tried to force air into my lungs.

Suddenly I felt a jab hit my sternum that felt like a needle. Not even a second later I felt two jabs hit around my collarbone.

The change was almost instant. I took in as much air as I could, but that didn't last long. I couldn't breathe again.

"Damnit!" Bird yelled as I looked at his mask. I was desperate. My other hand grabbed the front of his uniform as I begged with my eyes and mouthed the words Help Me. I didn't want to die again. Once was painful enough. "You're going to be alright. Just hold on!" he promised as he started jabbing again with two fingers.

I cringed as I felt him send his chakra into me with each small hit.

"I need to block all the main pathways, or else the cores will restart the others!" as he talked he continued jabbing at parts of my body.

He must have jabbed me almost a hundred times within the next few seconds.

And at that point I blacked out.

When I woke up the next day I was not in my room. Everything was white. The floor, walls, ceiling, sheets. Everything was white! So bright in fact that it was almost blinding.

"You're awake!" I heard from next to me. I turned my head slowly and saw that a young teenager was leaning on the wall next to my bed. He had dark short hair and had a Kanoha headband. "Nurse!" he suddenly yelled as he bolted out of the door, leaving me completely confused.

When he left, that was when I started to feel a bunch of stinging sensations like pinpricks across my chest.

I didn't really feel like getting up, so I just sat there until a nurse walked in.

"Oh! You are awake." She stated the obvious. She sat in a chair next to the bed and strapped something around my upper arm. Turns out she was checking my blood pressure. "That boy is a genin. He was supposed to watch over you until you woke up and then report to the Hokage." The woman explained.

I didn't really know what to say. And even if I did, I couldn't really say anything. It was hard enough just breathing.

I can't believe I was actually a part of a mission. Sadly I had the feeling I was a D-rank.

That really hurt my ego.

With nothing else to do, I just sat there in bed as the nurse ran a few more small tests. When she looked satisfied she walked out leaving me wondering if I was going to get a lollipop or not. I was good.

Just so you know that was the child part of me again.

So I just sat there with nothing to do. As you might have guessed, I got bored quickly. When the door opened my head spun so fast I was surprised I didn't break my neck.

"It's good to see you are recovering, Hajime-san." Hiruzen started as he walked in. I would have smiled upon seeing him again, but his subtle actions stopped such an action. He had closed the door after pausing to glance at someone. I was always a little paranoid in my past life, so I knew something was up. "How are you feeling?"

I watched as he sat down in the same chair the nurse used earlier.

"Umm…" I swallowed as I considered my response. "I think… I… better, Hokage-sama." Damnit! How do you say "I'm" in Japanese?!

"That is good to hear." He smiled as his hand rose up. It looked like he was going to pat me on the head or something, but he hesitated half way and lowered the hand back on his knee.

My eyes followed the hand as some emotions started to run through me. Why did he stop? I would have guessed this man was afraid of me, but quickly reconsidered. Not much can scare the "God of Shinobi."

It was like he was restraining himself actually, like it was somehow more for my well-being.

"Hokage-Sama?" I found myself asking while still concentrating on his hand.

"Yes, little one?" Hiruzen asked. His voice was calm, but somehow I had a feeling that was not really what he was feeling.

"Hand?" at this point I tried to restrict myself to simple one word questions. Let's see how long that goes.

"Oh… Sorry." The man was quick to answer with the fake cheerful smile on his face. "My arm has felt funny all day." he chuckled a little as he made a show of him stretching that arm.

I didn't like this. Something was wrong with this meeting.

"If it is alright with you I would like to ask a few things?" the tone made it clear this was actually a question.

"Ok…" I almost whispered.

I was really not liking this conversation. For some reason I wanted him to leave.

"These questions are going to sound strange, but try to answer them as best you can." He explained. "Do you understand?"

"Yes… Hokage-same."

"Good." Hiruzen crossed his arms as he let out a sigh.

Already I could tell I was not going to like this conversation.

**Don't worry; Hajime is not going to be OP with his cores. Keep in mind they are actually smaller than a name one.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ninja Doorman**

**Chapter 4**

The Hokage looked into my eyes. It was hard to tell what this man was thinking. Sure, he looked saddened, but there was something else. It was more like a feeling. A lot like how you would feel if you knew someone was analyzing you.

"Hajime…" Hiruzen started, not taking his eyes away from mine. He was most likely looking for my reaction. "You are smarter then you let on, huh?"

Nothing I could have done could have stopped my eyes from widening. In my old body I was a great liar. But in this two year old one I could hardly stop some actions.

If I was in full control I would have made sure my face did not move, always stay passive. Here I had half the mind of a child that wanted to react to everything. Blurt out stupid things at the wrong times, cry over spilled milk, and throwing tantrums. I was so… childish.

I hated it. I would give anything for my old body.

"Hajime-san?" the old man snapped me out of my fear induced paralyses. "Are you hiding your intellect?"

My eyes looked down to my lap as my hands clenched the covers. Of course he would figure it out.

"Yes…" I decided to bite the bullet.

There are worse people out there who could be sitting in Hiruzen's seat next to my bed.

I heard him sigh next to me.

"Why?" was his simple million dollar question.

I have never been so frustrated in my entire… two lives. There were many things to say. So much information.

But I couldn't think of the right words to use. Mostly because I lacked the words needed to convey what needed to be said.

"I don't… want to be…" I bit my lip and tightened my grip on the bedsheets. "I don't want… to be too… smart." In the corner of my eye I saw the man tense a little, although I couldn't tell why. It could have been a range of things; most likely it was the fact that a two year old was saying this so seriously. "I don't want… trees to take me away." I didn't know the word for ROOT, so tree was the next best thing.

"Trees? What do you mean." He asked me.

"Trees make… you mean… make you hurt people… do bad things." Was the next scrambled answer I pieced together.

When I glanced over at him I noticed his eyes focusing on me with a look of concentration. By the way he looked I got the feeling he was trying to piece together if what I was saying was either the ramblings of a child talking about the monsters under his bed, or if what was being said was genuine.

I knew ROOT picked up children who showed promise in orphanages. That was how Danzo got Kabuto and, by extension, Orochimaru. I was not sure if my orphanage was one of those places.

How many orphanages are in Konohagakure?

"The trees are not going to take you away." my head turned to the man. It looks like he either understood, or he shrugged it off as me being two. Either way he started to look a little amused. "I don't know who told you such stories, but this is Konoha." He gave me a warm smile as his hand came up and ruffled my hair. "Konohagakure is the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The trees protect us by lending us their leaves."

My brow scrunched up as I processed what he had said. It was a nice speech, but that meant he did not understand what I meant. Not like I would be helping myself if he understood. I knew the people within ROOT did bad things, horrible things, but they were… necessary, in a way. A world full of ninja needed people to act as… well, ninjas. To do the shady things the rest of the village did not want to become involved in.

But I bet if Danzo was not involved, those in ROOT could be far more helpful. What would soon happen to the Uchiha Clan is just one of the prime examples why that man needs to die.

Not that I could do anything about it.

"Now, Hajime…" I looked up to the man as he pulled his hand away. A small smile was on his face, and yet I could almost see the curiosity as well. "I took the liberty of having some Iryo-nin take a look at you."

My heart raced as my features gave in to what I felt. I had only just found out about my… abnormality. I am not just an adult in a two year old body.

I am a freak in a two year old body.

I could feel tears forming. Already, the child part of me grasped what that could mean. I was already a social outcast at two.

"You are unique. Do you know what chakra is?" he asked me. I almost said yes, but managed to make my head move side to side. "Chakra makes it possible for people to preform jutsus and other things. Just keep in mind the chakra you have is special." He must have noticed how I was reacting seconds ago and placed a hand on my shoulder to try and comfort me. "When you get older I will explain to you how it is special. Would you like that?" my head nodded on its own at the question. "Good. Now… do you remember what happened last night?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama…"

"Something happened when you touched Naruto." Hiruzen started. "Tell me in your words what happened."

I swallowed and kept looking down. "I… um… I feel… things."

"What kind of things?" Hiruzen asked me, showing interest at my words.

"I touch something… I know who… touched it." That was the best way I could describe it with my vocabulary. "Everyone… not the same."

"I see." The Hokage nodded his head and cupped his chin with a hand. "Would you be able to show me?"

"Yes." I was already in deep. Fibbing at this point would be pointless.

"First you touch something." He started. "After that, what happens?"

"I… touch who touched it… and know."

"Interesting." he hummed as he got up. "Wait here a moment." I watched as he opened the door and stuck his head out. It was clear he was talking to someone, but I was unable to hear a word. When he came back he had something in his hand as two Anbu walked in behind him. I instantly recognized Sparrow. The other mask looked like an otter. "Open your hand." I followed the order and a small scroll was dropped in it. I felt the chakra. "Sparrow. Otter. Hold out your hands." The two didn't even hesitate to hold their hands over my bed, palms up. "Tell me who the scroll belongs to."

I hesitantly reached up and placed my hand on Bird's hand. The scroll was not his. The chakra from the scroll was familiar, but it was faint.

My hand went on Otter's next, and I instantly became confused.

It didn't belong to him either. At first I thought this was a trick, but the scroll was not the Hokage's either. Sure he touched it. That did not mean it was his. He only held it for a small period of time before handing it to me.

But where did I feel the chakra from?

"Is something wrong?" Hiruzen asked when he saw my face.

I stayed quiet as I struggled to remember where I felt this chakra. And when I sat back my eyes widened.

"The lady!" I yelled in realization. "The nurse!"

I could still feel small wisps of the nurse's chakra on my arm. It was faint, and she did not have much chakra to begin with, but it was her.

"Good job." Hiruzen smiled widely as his hand messed up my hair. I smiled at the praise as I looked down shyly. "That is an update on your condition I asked for an hour ago."

"What?" Sparrow blurted out in shock. I could not see his face, but Otter looked just as surprised.

"Someday you could be a great tracker, Hajime." I looked up at the smile on his face.

The conversation from there continued as you would expect. Mostly Hiruzen and the two Anbu talked about my condition. Hiruzen explained to me what I was feeling was chakra.

I already knew this, but he does not need to know that.

Otter and Sperrow tested me a little more by handing me random things around the room and having me guess who handed them to me when my eyes were closed.

Hiruzen had to leave fifteen minutes later, and I ended up talking with the Anbu until the nurse from earlier came in and said I was free to leave.

I held Bird's hand as we walked through the streets. This was the first time I had been outside of the orphanage. All of the sounds and people left me in awe. I hadn't been in such an environment since my past life. And looking at the faces of the Hokage's made the situation feel surreal.

There was even quite a bit of damage here and there from the Kyubi's attack.

"Here we are." Sparrow stated as we arrived at the front of the orphanage. Some kids were playing outside, screaming.

One of the caretakers walked to the gate and bowed at the Anbu. "Thank you Anbu-san, for returning Hajime to us."

"Just following orders." Otter spoke for the first time in a rough voice.

"Looks like this is goodbye, Hajime-san." Sparrow tilted his head at me while ruffling my hair with a gloved hand.

I took the hand presented to me and stood next to the woman who greeted us.

They both said their goodbyes and turned away from us.

"Sparrow-san!" I yelled at the top of my small lungs before they could leave. The lady next to me jumped, not used to me being loud like an actual child. He turned to me and tilted his head questioningly. "Thanks for saving me!"

I could hear some chuckling from Otter as Sparrow scratched the back of his head. Sparrow then nodded before they both disappeared in a speed there was zero chance of me being able to follow.

Since then my life continued on almost as if nothing happened. There were a few differences, one being that I had a reason to sneak into the nursery.

I was warned not to touch Naruto by Hiruzen. He said what happened is I am somehow allergic to some types of chakra.

Yeah… I didn't buy it, but he didn't need to know that.

I knew why I had such a severe reaction. It was Kurama's chakra.

My body could not take the power, and I guess it could be possible this could happen with other Jinchuurikis.

I still wanted to be Naruto's friend. Who in my situation wouldn't? But I would have to be careful with how I would interact with him. One handshake, one high-five, and I could be sent to the hospital. Or worse… die.

That was a lot to think about.

I watched Naruto sleep for a few minutes each night until Hiruzen came by and took the small blond.

Part of me thought he would take me too, but I knew that would be impossible. Having two people in the same home that could accidentally kill each other was a disaster waiting to happen.

Did not mean my weaker half did not feel rejected.

So I remained in the orphanage. A few years went by. I actually tried to behave so I would get adopted, but the damage the rumors had caused was already done. Even when acting normal, everyone saw me as a black sheep.

So… yeah. I felt lonely.

As time went by I started messing around with my chakra. I did simple things like making little pieces of paper stick to my hands. At first I got tired quickly after a few seconds. I knew I had to get stronger. And this was the only way I knew how to increase your amount of chakra.

Some shinobi in this world were powerhouses. Aside from the main villains, other shinobi could reface a mountain, create new rivers. That was just the beginning.

In order for me to survive I had to become stronger.

I tried to create chakra strings, but I just couldn't make it happen.

When I became four I started sneaking out of the orphanage. I could channel a small amount of chakra to my legs, but I would collapse from fatigue within seconds.

I walked through the streets, navigating through a forest of legs, and almost caused some people to trip over me.

I have been sneaking out for the last few days. Each time I returned the adults acted like they never noticed my absence. It was normal for me to find a place where I could be alone with my thoughts.

There were multiple reasons for why I ran off every once in a while. First was the orphanage was extremely boring. The rest were kind of obvious things like I grew tired of kids and what not. But the biggest was I wanted to explore. I wanted to see the sights, to see the village I had only seen in pictures and on screens.

When I found the Ichiraku ramen shop I had a huge grin on my face as walked up to it. There was I man serving ramen… To… Toko… Teuchi!

I asked myself why Ayame was not with him and face palmed. How old was she? She had to be a little kid or something. The girl had to be older than my current body, but young enough not to be of help in the shop.

So I would have to wait a few years before I could meet her.

"You want anything?" I snapped out of my thoughts and realized Teuchi had asked me the question.

He had seen me standing there.

I could smell the ramen and wanted to say yes, but I knew I had no money. The corners of my mouth dropped into a frown as I turned away and disappeared in the sea of people before the man could ask me anything else.

I was hungry. The food at the orphanage was far too bland for me. I had to eat, so I ended up forcing myself to swallow at least a quarter of a meal presented to me.

I just couldn't stomach it. Something was wrong with me. This was proved to me as the adults and other kids devoured the same meals that were presented to me.

There was the chance I was only given crappy food, but that was unlikely.

My taste buds were messed up and could only taste strong flavors. The day after I found out about this was the day all the spices and hot sauces were locked away with a large padlock.

I had practically drowned my food in red and green sauces along with all the spices I could get my small hands on. The looks on the kids and the adult's faces were a mix of shock, horror, and disgust as I shoveled the first food I have ever eaten that I could actually taste.

I was taken to the hospital even though I was fine.

I looked down at the canal under me from the small bridge in the middle of the village.

This place was somehow both crowded and spacious at the same time. I remember scenes from the anime. The Village was rather large.

My eyes shot up when something jumped over the street, one roof to the other. Before I could ask what it was I saw three more blurs follow the first.

Those are shinobi!

I was so amazed I did not keep track of where I was going. I ran into someone and found myself on the ground, rubbing my face.

"Damnit!" a woman yelled.

The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. And when I opened my eyes I half wished I didn't.

The woman I had bumped into had just walked out of a shop. More accurately, it is a dango shop. And three sticks of said dango were on the ground, rolling in the dirt if they did not go splat on the stone path.

"My dango!" the familiar voice yelled in despair. My eyes slowly went up and took in the overcoat and mesh bodysuit. And when I got to her head I just froze. I knew who this woman was. Who wouldn't? Even though she looked a little younger than she did in the anime, there was no mistaking who this woman was. "I hope you can buy me more, Gaki."

That's right. I just ran into Anko Mitarashi.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ninja Doorman**

**Chapter 5**

"Did you hear me, Gaki?" Anko repeated with her hands on her hips. I swallowed again as I slowly started to back away. Fear was running through me. I didn't know why. Anko was a good person, and I have to admit she was one of my favorite characters in the anime. But why was I like this? I was afraid… somehow. As I inched back, Anko's face changed from anger to realization. I started to let out small hiccups as water formed in my eyes. "Hey… hey… don't cry…" she held her hands up nonthreateningly while crouching down to my level.

It was clear she didn't know what to do.

"I'm not mad!" she panicked while waving her hands in front of her. I heard her mumble something under her breath about annoying kids and mentally laughed. But even though I found the scene hilarious, the other part of my mind was afraid of getting in trouble. "Are you hungry? Is that it?"

'I'm not a baby!' I yelled in my head.

"Kids…" she mumbled. Her eyes widened in realization followed by her hands going through seals after biting her thumb. Next thing I know a tiny green and brown striped snake slithered out of the woman's sleeve.

The impulse to cry was replaced with a sense of awe. In most circumstances a child would start freaking out if he or she saw something wiggly and possibly slimy. Luckily I was not a normal kid. I used to have a pet bearded dragon in my past life. I love reptiles. They amaze me. This fascination with reptiles started with my love for dragons in mythology and seeing as they did not really exist; lead to me loving the next best thing. But now that I think about it, is there a dragon summoning contract?

She turned her hand palm up so the both tiny and skinny, but also long, snake wrapped around her hand and rested most of its body on the palm.

"This is Banji." She introduced the serpent that started swaying side to side lazily above her hand. When she saw my wide eyes and amazed appearance she smiled. I would guess not a lot of people in Konoha liked snakes much after the skeletons in Orochimaru's closet became public knowledge. So running into someone in the village who also liked the serpents could be rare.

I was just assuming.

"You want to pet him?" she asked me while holding her hand out more.

I lifted my hand fast but froze when a thought hit me. This snake is a summon, and by extension it could be intelligent. And on top of that I was moving way to fast. Depending on if this was a surface or an underground snake, it could have poor eyesight. So something big moving at it at a high velocity was just begging to get bitten.

So I slowed down a bit and touched the top of its head with the tip of my finger.

It ducked down a little as it looked up at my finger before moving back up and nuzzling my hand. I felt its tongue slither out to smell me. The weird but familiar feeling made me giggle a little as I kept rubbing the top of Banji's head.

Don't look at me like that. I'm four! I can get away with giggling.

"That's better." The smirk turned into a smile. "You're from the orphanage, right? You're wearing the colors."

I mentally raised an eyebrow. 'There was a reason all of us wore nothing but brown and blue?' What I happened to have on was a brown shirt and blue shorts… interesting color choices. We received donations every once and a while, but they always got dyed one of the two colors shortly after arriving.

"Y… yes." I stammered and looked at the ground.

"Hmm… Does anyone know you're here?" I froze at that. She must have noticed because I heard her snicker. "Why are you out here all alone?"

"We can't… leave the orphanage." I mumbled aloud. "I wanted to see the village."

"Really?" she asked before her eyes darted in a direction.

Anko made sure not to let me notice, and it would have worked if I was a normal four year old. Was someone watching us? He visited every once in a while, but I never considered that Hiruzen could have some Anbu watching me?

At least I hope it was Hiruzen.

"Are you hungry?" Anko asked me for the second time, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Banji wrapped around my hand, making me giggle a little more as I thought of an answer.

I didn't want to make Anko pay for my food. There was no way I would be able to pay her back until I was old enough to get a job.

But I did not get a choice. My stomach grumbled at the thought of food, making Anko laugh as she got up and placed a hand on me back.

"Let's get some Dango!" she cheered as she pushed me forward.

I kind of figured the situation would be easier if I just went with the flow. As we walked I kept my head down to avoid eye contact as I felt my cheeks warm up. I knew I was older than Anko… at least mentally, but the kid part just didn't understand what to do if a pretty lady was talking to you. Sounds weird, I know. Imagine how I feel.

And as hard as I tried I could not stop myself from acting shyly.

So I looked down at my snake covered hand and pet it with my other one.

"He likes you." I heard Anko claim as said reptile nuzzled my other hand. "He may look long, but he is only a few days old."

That was weird. I thought it was a kind of small garden snake or something.

"How big is he going to grow?" God it felt good to make full sentences.

"Not sure." She confessed. "I know he will get a little wider then my arm, but you never really know how long his kind can get. Right now he is… what, fifteen inches?" I looked up and saw her squinting at my arm before looking ahead. "Yeah. His kind is known to grow quite a few feet. You know he is an adult when a small horn grows on his nose."

"Back already Anko-kyaku-sama? A new record." a man asked when we entered the dango shop.

"Had an accident." She summed up. "I'll have the usual." Anko then looked down to me. "What do you want?"

I squinted at the board. The orphanage had a decent educational system, but that would start when someone became five in the orphanage. I was smart for my age and can learn quickly. However that did not mean I could read well. And even if I could read the board, I never ate dango before.

"I… don't know…" I mumbled.

"There is Chadango, Kuri, Bocchan..." Anko named while looking at me.

"What do those taste like?"

"W… wha…" Anko looked like someone had just slapped her with a fish. We just looked at each other, me in confusion, and her with a bewildered expression that slowly changed into a look of horror and outrage. "You… you never had dango before?!" her raised voice caused everyone in the establishment to turn to us, making me feel self-conscious and fidget under the gazes as I slowly shook my head. Even Banji stiffened. "I, Mitarashi Anko will not stand such injustice!" declared Anko as she lifted a shaking fist into the air that then was used to point at the man behind the counter. "Give me a dozen Hanami dango sticks!"

A few minutes after Anko's outburst we were sitting on the bench outside of the shop with a plate with dango stacked on top between us. Anko was staring at me intently with a stick of dango in her hand she was pointing maybe two inches away from my face.

"Open." She firmly commanded with her eyes unblinking.

My eyes widened as a blush formed on my cheeks. I stared between the dango and the shinobi's eyes. If you had ever thought Anko was most frightening in combat, you were wrong. I swear the snake mistress in front of me couldn't have been anymore scarier if the dango were replaced with a chainsaw.

So I had no choice but to take my earlier advice and just go with the flow. I opened my mouth and not even a second later the first dango ball was inserted.

"Chew." was Anko's next order.

And I chewed.

Anko let go of the stick when she was sure I wouldn't drop it and picked up one of her own. But the whole time she never took her eyes off me.

I grabbed the other end of the skewer and continued to chew the gooey and syrupy pink ball as my face lit up.

Ever since that event the staff of the orphanage called the great sauce incident, everything I ate tasted even blander then before. The pink dango was a little plain, but the texture was new.

I swallowed and looked down at our plate and noticed the small bowl filled with a brown syrupy substance. I'm just guessing it is syrup since I can smell a sweet scent from it.

So I used my finger to slide the white dango to the end of the stick and completely submerged it, almost making the bowl overflow. When I lifted it out I waited for it to stop dripping before putting it in my mouth.

And what I tasted was heaven.

Anko snickered and leaned back against the wall behind us as she stretched out her legs. She had a smug smile on her face as she chewed on her dango.

"So what's your name?" she asked me before stuffing her face again. Using chakra must cost a lot of energy. I can't think of any other way for her not to gain weight from all the dango she eats.

"Hgmmmcreee." I mumbled with a mouthful. She laughed a little and I blushed again. I swallowed.

"What was that?" she asked with an amused smile.

"My name is Hajime." I introduced myself and picked up the next skewer. I took a bite and chewed. After a few seconds I noticed Anko had not reached for another stick. "Anko-san…?"

When I looked at her I noticed her eyes were on me, wide with fear. She had dropped her dango and some beads of sweat started to form on her brow. The hand that had dropped the dango was on her neck, where I knew was the Cursed Seal of Heaven.

"Anko-san… Are you alright?" I asked, worried.

I reached out my hand hesitantly. She looked as if she was frozen in place, so she didn't pull away when I touched her hand.

It took me a few seconds to feel her chakra, and when I did the kanji on my chest started to burn. Not physically, but mentally like an old scar flaring up. The stick in my hand dropped as I bolted out of the seat. I gritted my teeth as my hand clenched the front of my shirt.

Other than the burning sensation on my chest I felt a sense of confusion and fear at the old memories coming up.

The whole time Anko was staring at me, unblinkingly.

I didn't know what this was. My head started to pound, making my other hand grab a handful of my hair. All that I knew was this woman; the woman in front of me was bringing up the pain I tried so hard to repress.

This realization made me come to a conclusion.

I have to get away.

So I turned from a still shocked Anko and ran. I maneuvered through a sea of legs and turned the first corner I saw.

"Hajime!" I heard Anko yell from a distance.

But by that time I was already half way down the street and turning around the next corner. I could feel all six of my chakra cores adding more power in each step, increasing my speed.

They may only be able to produce a quarter of the average amount of chakra a core produced each, but I could already feel myself tiring. I don't think I had that much chakra to begin with.

Already I could feel my legs begin to burn as I ran into a small group of trees. When my foot hit a root I tumbled down the hill into a bush.

Tears were already going down my cheeks before I crashed.

I could feel scratches on my exposed arms and legs. They burned and made me scream and thrash around to untangle myself. It felt like hours, but a managed to free myself and sat on the ground with my knees hugged against my chest.

I was sitting in a space between some bushes and knew it would be awhile before anyone noticed me. There was no reason to come over here.

So I used this new found privacy to cry, to pound my hands into the dirt with both frustration and to lessen the pain I was feeling.

It was when I opened my eyes and looked at my hands that I started to feel the sting.

The sun was an hour away from going down when I ate with Anko. I must have been running for a while since the sky was now dark. The trees blocked any stars and the moon from my field of vision.

I continued to whimper on my side and curled into a ball. For some reason I wanted to be smaller then I already was.

When I felt something slowly slither out of my sleeve I was too tired to see what it was. To tell the truth, I didn't care.

Something small tickled my nose, making me crack open my eyes. I didn't even notice Banji was still on me. He just looked into my eyes as his tongue continued darting out to smell me.

I half-felt the rest of his body wrapping around my hand. Slowly I held the hand close to my chest and felt Banji rest his little head on my temple.

Even though I was cold I started to dose off. But the snapping of a twig pushed away the sleep from my eyes, replacing fatigue with small doses of fear.

I remained frozen as multiple footsteps slowly approached my hiding place, maybe three or four people.

A small branch from the bush I was under was moved to the side, revealing two eyes that looked right at me.

A few seconds went by with us just looking at each other before more of the brush was removed to reveal the eyes belonged to Anko.

She looked down at me with what I guessed was sadness and relief. One of her hands went out to her left, as if signaling someone to wait before slowly reaching for me.

I gave no resistance as her hands went under my arms and lifted me up and drawn in close to Anko as she rested on a knee.

My arms wrapped around her almost automatically. I was freezing and tried to hug her as tightly as I could to try and warm up.

One of her hands was on my back while the other smoothed the hair on the back of my head.

"It's alright. Your safe." She whispered into my ear. I continued whimpering into Anko's mesh shirt. I didn't want to be alone. "Thinking of… days after mid-summer holiday…" she sang quietly into my ear, although it was easy to tell she was not that great at it. "Then flurry of cold snow continues, and a baby's repeating cry…" I slowly started to relax as she started to rock me gently back and forth. "Even coming holiday, what is so joyful… No clothes and no sash to attire…" I could clearly feel two forms of chakra from her. "The baby is so irritable to cry, that baby's crying annoys me…" the first was dark and terrifying. But the other shielded me from the dark chakra's vile nature. "Baby-sitting for a whole day, that makes me getting so skinny…" And that's when I noticed it. "Wishing to get back home in a hurry across the border…" This situation. "That's my parents' home which can be seen far away…" why this song was so familiar. Why her voice was cracking like… last time. Why her chakra felt so familiar. "That's my parents' home which can be seen far away…"

Before I went to sleep I realized what about the chakra felt so familiar.

It reminded me of rain.

**You guys did NOT see that coming!**

**The song is Takeda no Komoriuta, also known as Takeda's Lullaby. It is, if you had not figured it out, a Japanese lullaby I hear is fairly popular over there and has been around for a while. As for how long, I do not know. What was in this chapter is the translated version, but the original Japanese sounds far better if you ask me. It would not make much sense for it to be in Japanese in this chapter, because Hajime now understands the language. **

**In case you guys want to know, my name is not Pete. This may be a self-insert, but Pete, now Hajime, is an alternate version of me. There will be things we both experienced, but there will be differences. An example is in Hajime's past life he once had a pet bearded dragon. I on the other hand have a female map turtle named Fred. Keep this in mind throughout the story please. **

**Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter. **

**Don't forget, those of you who followed me from The Wildcard, I love well written Self Inserts. If you happen to know of any, please let me know. It does not have to be Naruto, but it would be awesome if the categories were video games, Mass Effect being at the top of the list, and anime, but not Pokémon. **

**This would be much appreciated.**

**Now if you don't mind, I have to go kick Plague's ass out of bed so I can work on the next chapter of The Wildcard. **


	6. Chapter 6

**I know I said the next chapter I put up would be for The Wildcard. Don't worry, it is almost finished. I felt so bad leaving you guys there last chapter, so I just had to upload this. **

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><p><strong>Ninja Doorman<strong>

**Chapter 6**

The next time I woke up I found myself being blinded by a surrounding whiteness that hurt my eyes. I felt warm and wanted to go back to sleep, but couldn't with all the white.

My eyes and hands stung a little, making it even harder to go back to sleep.

"This is the second time I have had to visit you in this kind of situation." A familiar voice said to my right, making me lazily turn my head and squinting eyes to where it came from.

"Hokage-sama…?" I mumbled tiredly.

"It is me, Hajime-san." The old man confirmed.

"Why… am I in the hospital?" I lifted my hand to rub my eyes only to find out it was wrapped in gauze.

"Aside from your minor injuries…" he started as I examined my wrapped up hand. "… You were experiencing some chakra fatigue. We talked about this."

I looked down from my hand, embarrassed.

He visited me a year ago and I wanted to show him what I could do with my chakra. I used up most of my chakra to speed up my running and ended up losing control and smashing into a wall, giving me a broken nose and almost cracked my skull open.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." I admitted.

I tried to lift my other hand but realized it was being held down by something. My head turned and what I saw made my eyes widen in shock.

There was a person sitting in the chair next to my bed with her head under one of her arms while the other held my hand.

"She stayed with you the whole time." Hiruzen explained Anko's presence. "I didn't know she became this attached."

"What?" I blurted out in confusion as I looked at him.

"You two have already met." He began. "I dug up the files shortly after I met you. But before we begin, I believe Anko-san should be awake for this."

He got out of his chair and walked around my bed so he can place a hand on Anko's shoulder. The response was instant. Anko turned her head to him as she squeezed my hand protectively. It loosened a little when she relaxed.

"Hokage-sama?" she asked groggily before turning to me.

When her eyes landed on me they widened as she got up and bent over the bed, this was followed by me getting pulled into an embrace. Through the contact I could tell she was relieved by her chakra.

"I know you." I said aloud once my earlier discovery was remembered. "You sang to me."

Anko stiffened while I saw the Hokage raise an eyebrow over the woman's shoulder.

"That was last night." Hiruzen tried to clarify.

"No." I said as Anko slowly pulled away and looked into my eyes with surprise. "She did it a long time ago… when I was little."

"What is he talking about, Anko-san?" Hiruzen asked the shocked woman.

"Before… before I was found…" she stammered when he called her name again. "On the beach… he started crying, and… I couldn't think of anything to do." Tears started to form in her eyes. It hurt me to see her like this. "So I started to sing the first thing that popped in my head." She then turned away from me to look at the old man. "It was how the Anbu found me."

I tried to remember more. I knew I saw the episode she was talking about, and could barely recall some details. Although there was never a baby involved with her background.

"Hajime-san." This time it was the Hokage. "How did you know it was Anko?"

"I remember her chakra." Hiruzen's other brow shot up as Anko blinked. "I know who she is."

I was scrambling for what to say next.

"How much do you know?" the old man asked, intrigued.

"Snake Man hurt her." I stated, making Anko flinch and take a sudden step back. Hiruzen just stood there in shock. Deep down I felt anger for what Orochimaru did and will eventually do. Understandable considering Anko was, and still is, one of my favorite characters. "Sometimes when I touch someone… I see things." At least that was a half lie. I did get faint feelings or emotions from some people I touch. But it was rare. I had to really concentrate. "He hurt her neck." I pointed with my wrapped up hand where the mark was on Anko, and saw her place her hand on her mark.

"Did you see anything from me?" Hiruzen asked, making me look his way. Anko was still in shock.

"Umm… maybe." I rubbed the back of my head as I brainstormed for something unique to him. "Trees. You were with some people and you volunteered for something. One of the men from the mountain was there." This time the old man stiffened. "He was wearing… blue."

I was talking about a scene in Shippuden where you go into Danzo's back-story. Can't remember specifics, but the Second Hokage was there.

"Hajime…" the old man rubbed his eyes. "When I first visited you… I had an infant with me…"

"Naruto." I finished for him with a smile, the child part of me showing itself. "Can I play with him now?"

He just let out a sigh before looking at me.

"Please stay focused, Hajime." He said in a gentle tone. "Did you see anything when you touched Naruto?"

"A fox." I grinned. This one was easy. "But it was mean."

"I… see." The man looked like he was going to have a headache. He then crouched down to my eye-level and forced a warm smile on his face. "It is important you never tell anyone about the fox."

"Why?" I asked, faking curiosity.

"Not a lot of people like the fox." He explained. "They will hurt Naruto if they find out." I already knew this, but I could still feel anger at the idea of people hurting Naruto. "Don't even tell Naruto. Understand?"

"Yes… Hokage-sama."

"Now, Anko. I believe now is the time to explain a few things to the boy." He turned to her. She looked like she calmed down a little. "Are you alright with this?"

I could see Anko bite her lip as she rubbed one of her arms. When she gave a hesitant nod Hiruzen turned back to me.

"Hajime-kun… Anko found you long ago." He started. "And she is the one who named you."

Now it was my turn to be shocked.

"We were not safe… and I had to take you away from… the Snake Man." Explained Anko as she used the nickname I came up with.

"But…" I hesitated, not sure if I wanted to ask. "Where is my mom?"

Anko had a pained look on her face as she walked up to the bed and sat on the edge.

"She… she is gone. And I don't know who your father is." Anko confessed as her arms pulled me into a hug. My eyes started to water… I didn't fully understand why. Yeah… this is my mother we are talking about, but I never got to know her. It didn't matter if she was the best or worst mother in the world. I will never know. I guess I am crying about never finding out. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry. When I ran into you yesterday… I didn't recognize you. You grew up so much. And I promise…" I could feel her tightening the embrace. "… the Snake Man will never take you away."

I started crying even harder as my arms wrapped around her as well. What she said just… clicked with me. It was hard to explain.

For as long as I can remember in this life I have always been ignored. To finally have someone treat me like this was… hard to deal with. First it was the isolation when being in an environment where no one understood you. When I finally was able to talk the adults who came to adopt children already could see I was different. I didn't act like a kid my age was supposed to.

So I was alone.

"Are…" I started to say. Part of me just had to ask. And I wish it was right. There was just something about Anko. Something both parts of me, adult and child, wanted to know. "Are you my new mommy?"

Anko tightened her hold on me even more as Hiruzen's jaw fell open before collecting himself.

"Yes…" she whispered so quietly I could barely hear her. Her shoulders started to shake and I could hear her taking deep breaths. "I'll… be your mommy."

"Are… you sure, Anko-san?" Hiruzen asked, still shocked from what the woman just agreed to. "You are only fifteen. Would you be able to take care of a child?"

"I… Yes, I can." Anko confirmed while hesitantly pulling away from me to look at him with puffy red eyes. "He is… my responsibility."

"Very well then." The man let out a breath before looking at me. "Looks like you have a surname now. Mitarashi Hajime-kun."

No words can convey how happy I was to hear that.

We all sat in that hospital room for what felt like hours, Anko and Hiruzen going over the specifics. Anko had eventually crawled into the bed with me and held me close the whole time, making me instinctively snuggle up to her. In case you wanted to know, yes I was embarrassed. But not for the reasons you might think. I have the body and half the mind of a four year old. Almost any physical contact like hugging would make me feel embarrassed.

I must have dozed off a few times. I could tell because one moment the Hokage was there, and then the next he was gone. He must have left to go deal with the paperwork.

We started talking again. You know. Basic stuff you would ask someone if you wanted to know each other. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food?

She asked most of the questions. I already knew almost everything about her.

When Hiruzen returned my new mother was trying to get me to eat the horrible excuse for food they had in the hospital.

He chuckled at what he saw as he walked in with some scrolls under his arm.

"It is nice to see you are getting along." He smiled warmly as he walked up to Anko. He then opened a scroll and handed it to Anko who started squinting at it to read the small hand. "That is everything in his medical records the hospital has. In it is a list of allergies, minor medical concerns for the future. Nothing big, I assure you." The man then opened a larger scroll and handed it over. When I looked over I saw it was blank. "Seeing as you are to be his new guardian, it is important that you become aware of a secret concerning Hajime."

"What secret?" Anko almost growled. I guess she knew something I didn't.

"You already know of his ability to identify chakra. Other than that there is only one other thing." He waved a hand to the scroll. "This is a copy of an S-ranked document. I highly urge neither of you speak about the scrolls contents in public. Hajime-kun. You already know all this, but I hope you can keep this a secret between the three of us and a select few."

Anko preformed a few seals and rested her hand on the scroll. Almost instantly ink started to appear, filling the whole scroll.

It looked like a bunch of gibberish to me, but Anko looked at the scroll with a bewildered expression

"Six…" she looked up at Hiruzen in disbelief. "He has six chakra cores?"

"Hajime is exceptionally unique. These cores produce merely twenty-five percent of the amounts of chakra a normal core would produce for a boy his age." Hiruzen explained. "If you added that up he would have one core and a half. But I believe they can create even more chakra if he applied himself over the years. And we believe this kekkei genkai was inherited naturally." He cleared his throat to gain Anko's attention away from the scroll. "I have kept this a secret for years. If the council or elders found out…"

"They would use him." She finished. I could sense the killing intent running off of her in waves. I felt nervous, and they suddenly stopped when she perked up. "What about the Hyuga?" she blurted out, a small fearful tone in her voice. I wanted to know this myself.

"I have already discussed this with their clan head." The Third reassured with a raised hand. "They won't speak a word of this. There is no need to worry." I relaxed in the bed. "But this leads to something we must discuss." We both looked up at him. "In the case Hajime's kekkei genkai ever becomes public knowledge; we will have to take steps to ensure no one tries to use him for power. This can be done a small handful of ways. One being we claim the Mitarashi has always had a kekkei genkai, and only few in the clan inherit it. And Hajime-kun here is actually the child of one of your distant relatives."

"Would they fall for that?" Anko asked thoughtfully. Anko may be a female version of Naruto, but she knew when things required restraint and careful thought.

"Fall for what? The Hokages have always been aware of the Mitarashi clan's kekkei genkai." He voiced with a sly and smug look on his face. "I am sure if I look around I could dig up some records."

"But what if they find out we are not related." They both turned to me with the surprise clear on their faces. Hiruzen recovered from me asking the question faster than Anko did.

"It is nice to see you are still as smart as ever." Hiruzen smiled. "I have prepared for this as well." He reached into his robe and pulled out a ten inch long white box. And when he opened it he showed us what looked like a syringe. It looked a little odd though. There was a needle on both sides and what looked like three chambers inside. The middle chamber had a green liquid. Two sliders were on the side to, I assume, work as separate plungers. "Long ago I had this made. The liquid within is a special chemical that copies the appearance of any liquid it comes in contact with down to the smallest detail. Normally it is mixed with poisons and sedatives so that you could do things such as turning a barrel of wine into wine flavored poison. But this concoction is special." He pointed to one side of the syringe. "If Anko-san were to extract some of her blood it would mix with the chemical. There it will use her blood as a blueprint. I had some additions added to the formula that extends the duration and guides it to the bone marrow. It will spread throughout all the bones in the body and effectively makes the marrow produce almost exact replicas of the blood sample. They won't be perfect copies, but they will trick the body into thinking this blood is its own. The blood will be a little different, but it will be enough to convince anyone into thinking you two are related by blood. How closely you are related depends on how well your body takes the chemical." He smiled again. "I'm to assume you understood all of that?"

"Yes… Hokage-sama." I replied and bowed my head.

"Good." He turned to Anko and handed the box to her who looked down at the syringe. "It takes twenty-four hours for it to take effect, and lasts one year. Each year Hajime will have to take the shot again. I ask that you two think carefully over this before…"

Hiruzen paused in mid-sentence with wide eyes. I wanted to see what was wrong, so I followed his line of sight.

"If it will protect Hajime… I will do anything." Anko stated with the syringe in her arm, blood already filling the first chamber. "I will never let anyone take him away from me. I will kill all who try." I could see the expression on her face that was aimed not at me or the Hokage. I had a feeling the person she was proclaiming this to was not in the room. I could guess who she was thinking of. It could be the elders, but I had a strong feeling it was Orochimaru and everyone like him. I was shocked. I didn't know anyone would go to such extreme lengths for me. The feelings this dug up were hard to describe. Her dark eyes at the moment made my other half shudder, but other than that I was touched. I guess deep down I felt a wave of admiration. When she noticed I was looking at her she made sure to change to a warmer expression. "Do you want to be my son?"

I looked down at the forgotten tray of food in front of me.

Feeling alone could be one of the worst things someone can feel. You never see it in the anime, but it is implied that Anko received a lot of criticism when she returned from Orochimaru's side. One can only assume it took her a long time to clear her name. So that meant not a lot of people trusted her, but she was well respected for her skills.

People may not look at me the same way, but that did not mean I always had someone to talk to. And I hated it.

This would all change.

"Yes… Okaasan." I said with a shy smile while holding out my arm.

I was not alone anymore, and I never will be ever again.

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><p><strong>Be honest, who here guessed that girl a few chapters back when Hajimi was a baby was Anko?<strong>


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